Locals Team up With Locals to Deliver Help for the Holidays

By Katie McFadden

The season of giving is approaching and there’s no better time like the present to give a present. Locals Helping Locals has made it easy to give with their toy drive. From now through December 14, local residents Evelyn Ortiz and Lisa DeFillipo, and several local businesses, including Grind Time Skate Shop, Reid’s Studio 28, Vino by the Sea, and 91 Deli, are collecting new toy donations to be given out to local children at a Christmas celebration on Sunday, December 15.

Both Ortiz and DeFillipo know what it’s like to be in need. “I’ve been there,” Ortiz said. “I’ve been homeless, without toys, without money. I’ve been a single mother and one Christmas I had a choice between paying rent and buying my kids gifts and they’re both Christmas babies. A friend of a friend heard about it and two days before Christmas, people showed up at my door with gifts and gift cards for my kids, people I didn’t even know. People who I didn’t know from a whole in the wall showed up for my kids and I’ll never forget it. It was then that I knew that as soon as I was making more money, I was going to pay it forward.” That time when Rockaway came through for their new neighbor, Ortiz, happened about 17 years ago.

For DeFillipo, that moment was after Hurricane Sandy in 2012. Having just moved back to Rockaway in 2011 after living in Las Vegas for eight years, DeFillipo found herself having to start over again when Sandy hit. “After Sandy, I lost everything, and I got so many donations from people around here to people sending me packages from Las Vegas. I got so much stuff that I had to donate some of it. I know what it’s like not to have, so I wanted to pay it forward,” DeFillipo said.

Since those moments of having people come through for them at their time of need, both ladies have been making efforts to help others, Ortiz leading efforts around her neighborhood of Rockaway Beach and DeFillipo leading efforts around her area of Neponsit. About two years ago, the two ladies connected and have since bundled their efforts to help others, whether it’s leading a joint coat drive for the first time last year, to helping everyday families in need like women and children leaving shelters with nothing but the clothes on their backs, to now hosting holiday toy drives together, an effort Ortiz started a few years ago.

And together, they make a good team. “Last year I did my first coast drive with Evelyn. She’s in the Beach 80s and I’m uptown so she covers there, and I cover here, and it works really well. I knew her as someone who helps around the neighborhood and I just wanted to get involved more than I was already doing as my kids have gotten older,” DeFillipo said. “Lisa is amazing,” Ortiz said. “We met through mutual volunteers, and we’ve been doing stuff together the last two years. There aren’t too many people in the world like her and she’s been a Godsend.”

Ortiz does work cleaning homes, businesses and rentals for the last 15 years, which gave her the ability to connect with many people to help in her donation efforts. “That’s how I meet everybody. I’ve met some amazing people and every year they help me out with these efforts. I’ve been very blessed,” Ortiz said. This year, Grind Time Skate Shop at 91-13 Rockaway Beach Blvd. has stepped up to the plate to host this year’s Christmas event where the toys that are collected will be given out to neighborhood kids in need. On December 15 at 1 p.m., Grind Time will host the toy giveaway, along with pictures with Santa, snacks, arts and crafts, music and more. Children must be present to receive a toy at the event.

In the meantime, Grind Time is also one of the locations where a donation bin has been set up for people to drop off new toys to be donated. They can also be dropped off at Vino by the Sea wine shop at 190 Beach 69th Street, 91 Deli at 91-17 Rockaway Beach Blvd. and Reid’s Studio 28 at 173 Beach 116th Street. To help ramp up donation efforts and give back herself, Reid’s Studio owner Sharon Johannesen Nicholsen, is hosting a special event on Monday, December 2 from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., where in exchange for a new toy of any value, boys can get a free buzz cut and girls can get a free braid and hair tinsel. “It doesn’t have to be expensive. It could be a deck of cards or a ball,” Johannesen Nicholsen said. “I know how expensive it is to be to raise a family now and this is a good cause.”

DeFellipo has been doing her part by getting the word out and creating an Amazon wishlist to make it even easier for people to donate something, by selecting a toy from the list and having it sent directly to DeFillipo’s home. She also connected with local charitable organizations, The Graybeards, which contributed a monetary donation towards the cause and Rockaway W.I.S.H., which purchased nearly 30 toys off the wishlist. DeFillipo says she’s also received donations from complete strangers around town, with toys piling up in her home. Anyone can also reach out to either Ortiz (347-944-8955) or DeFilipo (702-523-7293) if they have new toys that they would like to donate or if they’d like to contribute monetarily.

With donations pouring in, Ortiz and DeFillipo’s team effort to pay it forward is paying off. “It’s been crazy but we’re going to be able to help so many families,” DeFillipo said. “It’s going to be great this year,” Ortiz said. Both women have been relentlessly pouring their time and efforts into helping others for a simple reward. “It just makes my heart happy. It feels good to help other people,” DeFillipo said. “I’ve gotten to meet a lot of people, including moms that were in the same situation as me and they don’t have anybody, so just to see people say thank you is enough,” Ortiz said. “It makes you feel good to be a part of this amazing community and to help people and to see how thankful people are.”